Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,507,566 to it, the largest being THE CARMEN DANELLA FOUNDATION SHARON DANELLA ($3,731,970). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $23M
- Funders on record
- 59
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $58M
What Norristown Zoological Society does
Mission
The elmwood parks zoo's mission statement is to foster an appreciation for wildlife and the environment that will inspire active participation in conservation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Purposes, educating the public about wildlife, preservation of endangered species & conservation. As an educational institution, the zoo hosts many public events to inform and entertain its guests. Such events include annual breakfast with the animals, brunches with anta, party for the planet, zoosnooze overnight campouts, boo at the zoo weekends, and many more. Each summer, the zoo hosts beast of a feast, its largest annual fundraiser with dozens of local vendors that showcase the best food drom montgomery county. Per its designation as a certifed autism center, the zoo hostsmonthly early access mornings to cater to guests with special needs and their caretakers. The zoo offers interships and volunteer opportunities in each of its departments. Guests outside the zoo can enjoy educational programs like zoo-on-wheels, in which educators on staff travel with animals to schools, camps, community events, senior centers, and malls to promote the mission of the zoo. Children ages 6-11 can enjoy the zoo's day camps, held each spring and summer. In addition to the special events held thoughout the year, the zoo hosts regular events each month to cater to its members, and the community at…
$15,765,350 spent$2,489,697 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $15,765,350.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $21M to $60M (+183%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 6% · 2020 9% · 2021 7% · 2022 10% · 2023 3% · 2024 4% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
75% of NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Albert J Zone
Exec director/ CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 30 funders, grant income fell $3.0M → $847k.
10 of 59 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 59 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 57% · 2019 50% · 2020 44% · 2021 32% · 2022 50% · 2023 30% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
58% of NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
93% of NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $438k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2k on record.
- FEED$2k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
43%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,507,566 to it, the largest being THE CARMEN DANELLA FOUNDATION SHARON DANELLA ($3,731,970). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 59 organizations giving $10,507,566 in grants to NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- THE CARMEN DANELLA FOUNDATION SHARON DANELLA is the largest funder on record, with $3,731,970 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORRISTOWN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Norristown Zoological Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 59 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing